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Lodestar Chapter 02
Chapter 2 Scandals of various kinds were not unknown in Lodestar, as was often the custom in small towns around the world, however, in Lodestar, since many of the families had known one another intimately for generations, it was apparent that the sins of past generations would be still fresh meat for the gossip mill. So, it was no surprise when the affair/engagement between Alzada Hale and Truett Hemphill would start a scandal that would open up a Pandora's box of hidden crimes. People in The Silver Spur western store, which was owned by the Childress family, to Wheeler's Pharmacy; to even the Gold Star Bar and Grill, the community's local combination pub and restaurant, had an opinion on this. Everyone in town took sides, which was never a good thing. 98% of the town's population were on the side of the Hale family, given that they had been backstabbed by the conniving and backstabbing Alzada. Their closest friends, the Parmer Brothers and the Hutchinson family were their biggest backers. However, the only ones who had any sympathy for Alzada and Truett were the Lipscomb family, a somewhat (with a few exceptions) degrading bunch, rumored to be hard-core drug dealers; and the Roberts family, another scuzzy bunch who were into hard-core crime. The Roberts and Lipscombs, especially their two sons, Billy Bob Lipscomb and Virgil Roberts, were two of Truett's most reliable thugs, whom he used to get his revenge on his enemies. The two were on the side of Alzada and Truett, who thought that the love they had was pure and wonderful. However, public opinion was running quite high against Alzada and Truett. Most of the families in Lodestar, even some of the Roberts and Lipscombs knew the Hales and knew what their contributions to the community were. Billy Bob had been disowned by his equally disgusting father, Roscoe; and Virgil had been thrown out by his wife, Lois Yoakum. She was a member of the Yoakum family, one of the more socially connected families in the town. They may not have had much money, they lived quite modestly but did very well for themselves, but they were quite refined socially. The Yoakums were perhaps the most formal and exceedingly polite family in Lodestar. However, a furious Lois took Virgil through the divorce court, and drained him dry! She got all his money, and Virgil got just his possessions and an order by the judge to vacate Lois's house. "You'll not get away with this, Lois," Virgil yelled, "Truett Hemphill will make you suffer!" Lois wasn't impressed with Virgil's idle threats, she had never been, especially with his lies. And she was sick of him invoking Truett Hemphill all the time! "I just bet he will, you coward!" Lois screamed, "Isn't that the way of it! That's always been your answer, 'I'm gonna get Truett Hemphill on ya to make your life hell!' Hell's bells, you've made my life miserable from the very minute we were married and from the moment you sold your already black soul to that hell spawn, Truett Hemphill! I've more than dealt with you and your idiocy for years, Truett Hemphill is just your damned cover to get away with your disgusting crimes!" "Truett Hemphill gets things done!" Virgil snapped. "He's one of the most superior people in this whole damned town!" "Maybe I should tell the courts about the rape you two so-called 'men' committed against poor Jasmine Briscoe!" Lois yelled, "I am SURE that Mr. and Mrs. Briscoe would LOVE to hear that one! Especially since she was the niece of your friend!" Virgil froze. That was one crime he did not want to have exposed...for obvious reasons! Mainly because he knew it would end his friendship with Billy Bob. Two years ago, he and Truett had committed statutory rape against fourteen year old Jasmine Briscoe. Jasmine, who had been in eighth grade at the middle school, was the daughter of Roger and Ruby Briscoe. Roger owned a long-distance trucking company based in Lodestar, and Ruby was the secretary for the Lodestar Independent School District. The horrid event occurred while Roger and Ruby were at work and Jasmine hadn't felt good. The villainous duo broke into the house, drugged her with Rohypnol (the date-rape drug), which also happened to be poisoned and tied her down, beating her and then savagely raping her! After Truett and Virgil ran out of the house laughing insanely over the carnage that he pulled, she had committed suicide by hanging herself in her bedroom. Their neighbors, Justin and Claire Floyd, owners of the town's café, found her after they called the paramedics and the authorities. The Briscoes and the Floyds have never forgiven either man for what they did, and they want to make them suffer. At the divorce hearing, Truett and Virgil's crime against Jasmine was exposed for the whole world to see! The entire city was horrified. Ruby Briscoe broke down in tears, it took Marie Hale; Connie Moore and Felicia Hutchinson to help her out. "My baby," she cried. "Calm down, Rube," Florence Hartley, who was the town's librarian, said, "they're finished now! Only the wicked Truett was smiling, as he was sure that his exoneration was seemingly imminent. Lois glared at Virgil's smug face and stormed off the stand. The judge called for a recess. "You VILE piece of scum," Lois screamed, "it WAS you! You two so-called 'men' had raped Jasmine, and now she's dead!" Roger Briscoe glared at Virgil, "I hope you rot in hell for what you did to my daughter!" he spat in fury. Truett laughed in derision, which succeeded in angering everyone even more! "Oh, who cares what you think?! She was nothing but a good piece of ass," Virgil snorted in contempt, "and that is all she was!" A furious Ruby walked up to the smug Virgil and slapped him hard! "That was my daughter whose life you and your disgusting friend destroyed," she said venomously, "and I will see to it that you are both locked up for the rest of your life!" Virgil crowed, "I don't think so, lady! Better lock up all your girls, folks" he sneered, "y'all never know when good ol' Virgil Roberts'll be lookin' for a good time!" Chad Hutchinson came up, a burning anger in his normally placid blue eyes. An attorney, like his father, he was the son of Eric and Felicia, and was Jennifer's brother. It mattered not that Jennifer was his adopted sister, to him, she was his sister. He was usually very placid, but Virgil's contemptuous words set off even his slow burning temper. "If you even dare to go near ANY girl in Lodestar, ESPECIALLY my sister, Jennifer," Chad said savagely, "I'll make sure you won't EVER use that thing to harm another woman again!" "Whatever," Virgil sneered, "I am sure Billy Bob and Truett will make sure I am protected against incrimination!" Billy Bob looked away, he was very angry. He had known Virgil for years since they were kids, but what he had done to Jasmine was far and away too much. As it turned out, Billy Bob was Ruby's younger brother, and he had loved his late niece dearly. He turned on his ex-friend and motioned for his sister to come over. "Virgil, your words just ended our friendship!" he said coldly, "What you and Truett did was below the belt, even by your standards! Besides Ruby, I have a younger kid sister, Katie, whom I adore," Billy Bob said, "and Jasmine was my niece. They were the same age and they were best friends. I don't have any daughters, but if I did, I certainly wouldn't want your mangy claws on then! I don't care how long we've known each other, that is irrelevant, you ever touch my sister, I'll massacre you! I ought to beat the tar out of you for what you did to Jasmine myself!" Truett looked impatient, "Oh, enough of this!" he ordered, "The girl is dead, and that's that! C'mon, Virg. Alzada is in the car and we can regroup at my place." Billy Bob was aghast. "So, you're throwing our friendship away for a bastard like Truett Hemphill!" Virgil smirked, "Yep!" he said, "You're nothing! Truett is EVERYTHING! Truett has all the good things in life, and he knows some better looking women too! And I am proud to be one of his thugs!" Billy Bob walked up to Virgil and smashed him in the jaw with his fists! Truett shoved him away. "Officer!" he screamed, "I want Billy Bob Lipscomb arrested for assault on my associate, Virgil Roberts!" Virgil and Truett smiled smugly as the cops ran over, but their smug faces were wiped clean when they found out that Billy Bob had immunity from prosecution! "What the hell do you mean he has immunity?!" Truett shouted. "Billy Bob talked with one of our associates, earlier this afternoon," Jeffrey Crosby told them. Jeff was the DA for Sullivan County, where Lodestar was located, "and he is in the clear. For his cooperation in ratting out what you and Mr. Hemphill have done, he is not going to be charged. In fact, his record has been expunged!" Truett was stomping, "This isn't fair!" he raged, "You're taking the word of that piece of crap over me! I am Truett Hemphill! I am the future of this disgusting crap hole of a town!" Most of the community got visibly rankled by this insult! "You call yourself the future of the town you just insulted?!" Everett Hale hissed, "would you listen to yourself! You destroyed Jasmine Briscoe's life. You ruined the life of a 14 year old little girl and she's dead, thanks to you. You and Virgil need to be locked up!" "Virgil Roberts didn't do anything wrong," Truett raged, "Don't you people seem to understand?! He just had needs, which all of us have! Boys will be boys, you know? So what if he raped that stupid little bitch? She wasn't worth anything! Just a stupid little slag she is! Besides she wanted it, I know she did!" Ruby slapped Truett, "No she wasn't!" she yelled, tears spilling over, "she was my baby! She was my daughter, she was my sweetie! No child can consent to sex and you know it! She was my little angel, and she died because of that pervert and your encouraging it! So, I wouldn't be going and throwing lies where they ought not be thrown!" Lois came up to a sobbing Ruby, "Calm down, hon," she said, "there will be justice, and both of them will get theirs!" Billy Bob hugged his sister, "I am sorry, Rube," he said, "I should have known." "Thank you, Billy," she said, hugging her younger brother, "I know how much you loved Jasmine and how much you love Katie." "Lois is right, Ruby," Jeff said, "besides, Truett Hemphill's word isn't worth anything, especially after that disgusting display he just performed and it will only go worse on him once the word gets out on him!" Meanwhile, whilst everyone else was otherwise engaged in calming Ruby and planning their next moves, Virgil and Truett scuttled out of the courthouse, like the rats they were, and soon enough, were in the limousine with Alzada. Neither of them were worried about what Jeff Crosby would do! "So, how did it go?" she asked. "Not so good," Truett said, "most of the town is pissed off at us. My exoneration was destroyed, because they discovered I lied and then that bitch Lois Yoakum slapped Virg in the face. That Pandora's Box about Jasmine Briscoe was exposed and all hell just broke loose! And what's worse is Billy Bob turned on us. He cooperated with that damned Jeff Crosby and his record has been expunged!" "I can have her dealt with, if you'd like," Alzada smiled evilly, "and Billy Bob was dead wood, we don't need him anyway! You KNEW he would be upset about that damned niece of his. He's as bad as that stupid sister of his." "She'll keep, darlin'," Truett said, "and you're right, Billy Bob was a liability and he has been seen to and dealt with. He and his stupid sister deserve to wallow in their grief! We can find someone else, there's not a shortage of people who would want to be on our side. But right now, we have to regroup as this scheme has failed so terribly." The diabolical trio drove all the way to the north side of Lodestar where the interstate crossed the highway. They stopped at an all night eatery, and they enjoyed a meal as well as plans on how to stick it to the people of Lodestar! Category:Lodestar Episodes